The hardest thing about teaching the benefits of sustainability is that people decide to not engage with the subject. While we may be telling people to eat more sustainably, reduce food waste, or operate with a more ethical mindset, the reality is that sustainability is a mindset that we have to encourage by pointing people in the right directions. So what does it really take for us to get people more sustainably minded?
This is a contributed post
Spend Time in Nature
A very simple thing, but something a lot of people never do. Encouraging people to go camping is such a simple thing, but it becomes one of those practices that, the more you do it, the more you start to appreciate what nature has done for everyone. People should go camping for this very reason because it doesn’t just help disconnect from the modern world, but it also gives them a toolkit of ways to thrive by themselves. There are plenty of providers of great camping resources, such as EcoGear FX that can help. Spending time in nature is one of the best ways to show people what nature can really do for them in terms of their mental health.
Learn About Where Everything Goes After We Use It
We all take things for granted. One of the best ways to start learning about sustainability is to get people to think about what happens if something doesn’t go into recycling; something as simple as a bit of plastic that makes its journey out to the ocean and can cause havoc for many sea creatures is something that people just don’t think about. When people start to learn about what goes on when we don’t recycle or use too much water, it can really help us start to think about the big picture.
Start To Learn About Ethical Practices
Operating ethically is part and parcel of a sustainable mindset, but in order to get people more in this mindset, it’s beneficial to start learning about ethical practices. An ethical approach to sustainability can help people start to be more accountable in terms of what they are doing to the planet. When we start to think about our own carbon footprint, we can then take more ethical steps to reduce our impact on the planet, such as by cycling or walking rather than using the car.
Join Sustainable Organizations
There is a huge list of environmental nonprofits out there that can provide information. A very simple thing that we can all do is to learn more from the big sustainable organizations so we can either get inspired or start to follow their lead. Even signing up for a newsletter from an organization like Greenpeace can get us into a more sustainable frame of mind but they can also alert us to some of the wider issues around the world. We have to remember that sustainability is as much a mindset as it is about the practices we undertake. So many businesses and individuals are doing a lot to spread the message, but we all need to do our little bit as well.
Sustainability needs to be inculcated in our minds. Need of the hour.
You’re so right!
Thank you for this well researched and well articulated article.
Thanks so much!
All your points here are credible and sensible, but as someone who has been talking about the environment since the early 90’s I have grown increasingly cynical about people’s responses. The information is out there, it has been for years and yes, some people are very passionate and concerned, but the majority do what they have to do for the recycling bin collections but beyond that are not interested. I see it every day from the people I work with, one woman in her early 50’s said a few weeks ago it didn’t matter because the impact wouldn’t affect her in her lifetime. And she has a teenage child.
I hope I’m proved wrong but sadly I don’t see enough people who give enough of a damn to make a change no matter how much information is put in front of them.
I 100% agree Paul. I have heard people older than me and people my age say the same thing. Its almost like people have developed this mentality of “if it doesn’t affect me, its not my issue” and thats such an awful mentality to have. Where has the care for others gone? It makes me incredibly sad.
Well you give me some hope Olivia, when you say it make you sad because it shows there are people like you who care. Fact is, it will become people’s issue. We all live under one huge eco system and something, in the next 5. 10 or 15 years will happen here to terrify people more than they know.
But you know what, you’ve made me think that despite that, maybe we should still keep trying.
I try to live sustainably and I am very mindful of the waste I produce. Some days, I feel like I am winning the battle—other days, not so much.
Great suggestions. We can grow our own veges and compost our food scraps, very easily. You don’t even need a yard, you could grow herbs in pots. There are many ways for each person to follow a more sustainably minded lifestyle. Thanks for highlighting this important issue. I was writing about this today, as well.